I don’t have a clue what is happening on the Ukraine front. That’s the job of our Intelligence Community, and although they are pretty free with leaks about Russia, Russia, they don’t seem to be that interested in telling us about the Ukraine War. I guess that certain things are meant to be kept secret, even if then Vice-President Biden had secret documents cuddled up to his ‘67 Chevy Corvette Stingray.
Hey, Joey, at some point, a guy with his head screwed on straight recognizes that he’s a little too old to be cruising for girls in his Corvette Stingray. And he sells it to a guy that could use it for the purpose for which it was intended. The closest thing I ever had to a Corvette was a ‘65 Mustang fastback.
But it is possible that Vladimir Putin is in a spot of trouble. I was reading a piece today comparing the current troubles to the Tsar’s a century ago, not to mention comparing the bloodbath at Bakhmut to the bloodbath at Verdun in 1916.
Then there is the situation of President Xi of China. The news reports indicate that COVID in China is really bad. One commentator is writing about a death toll in the hundreds of millions. And,
Historians have noted that a massive, deadly pandemic like COVID-19 is not new nor unique in light of China’s long history. Oftentimes, pandemics occurred along with dynastic changes.
There’s that “experts agree” meme again.
Look, this is not rocket science. Governments exist to protect their people from The Enemy. And to hand out loot and plunder to their supporters. See California, Black Reparations, Proposals for.
Chaps like Putin and Xi ratch things up a bit. Because if you are going to be the all-powerful leader that rules by personal charisma or by secret police charisma, you need to be a stunning success, with victory just around the corner.
That’s what censorship in wartime is all about. That’s what CISA’s war on MDM — misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation — against the glorious war on COVID is all about.
Whenever there’s a war — and every government likes to think it is fighting the last glorious war for mankind — the government needs to keep everybody onside. It needs to stop people from thinking that the slaughter of a generation of young men is a disaster. It needs to tell Gold Star Moms that the sacrifice of their beloved sons is necessary and unavoidable in order to protect our homeland.
But if the glorious war turns out to be a cock-up from start to finish, if our beloved sons are sacrificed for nothing, if the government orders us to get vaccinated against COVID and it turns out that the vaccine isn’t all that effective, oh dear.
Well, that’s when ambitious notables in the ruling class start to think that maybe, just maybe, the only way to preserve the regime for the next generation of glorious leaders is to sacrifice the present losers in the hope that the people are restrained just like George Eliot’s Mr. Brooke and don’t want to take things too far.
Are Presidents Putin and Xi getting into the Danger Zone?
Ask me when it’s over.